Con Los Ojos Abiertos

Today I'm linking up with Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday.

What happens when the world is turned upside down?  And the familiar....gone. Not even Spanish would be of big use on this trip.  A new and empty canvas was upon me. And everyday a new bird was added to my life list, but it was a hard fought battle as both photographer and birder alike.

White-naped Brush-finch

Along the way, I met allies who would aide me in the battle behind these long windy named birds.  Take for example the White-naped Brush-finch.  4 words and one bird!  They were always mouthfuls to say during any birding outing. My first few days in Antigua, Guatemala would be overwhelming for many reasons.  Locating and recognizing calls became super difficult.  As the sun rose around the early 5 AM time, I would jump out of bed to chase the birds outside.  And they were everywhere!!!  No need for an alarm clock.

As the photographer, I had to deal with gray skies, rainy conditions and the dark woods.  I wasn't as successful my first few days with the photography bit as it was super challenging.  Manual focus and flash were a must in the dark conditions.

Blue-and-white Mockingbird

My ears would locate a call in the vast green and dark canopy.  Birds were skittish and moved off quickly.  Sometimes they would be staring right at me which brings up my 3rd issue........eyes adjusting to the greens instead of the browns of my desert.  By the time we left, I had gotten better at finding the birds, but I'm still not great at it yet.  If it weren't for my ears and patience, most of these birds would have escaped my radar!

The other issue was timing.  During our travels, I calculated staying over a several day period at each place so that I could sweep the areas properly. I'd go 4 or 5 times over the same route during a one day period. Again the birds would move around according to their own time tables......I just had to be ready for them. The unique part about this trip wasn't seeing as many places as we could but rather staying in one place and finding as much as we could in one area.   Each place had a different and common group of birds that hung around our cabins or hotel rooms. I just had to find them!

Our cabin

Many of the birds didn't respond to my pishing attempts which made me change my tune....literally.  After several weeks in Guatemala, my whistling would finally attract a few birds. Knowing the general body types would help me quickly locate a bird from my ID ap in the area. The nice thing about their long names is that they usually will include their prominent and physical features. My IPHONE, with the spotty Wifi service, helped out.  Towards the end of the trip, I began to play the calls electronically and pull the birds out.  I played the recordings only twice and never again. At that point, I had become physically and mentally exhausted searching for birds everyday. For most of them, it worked, but for some, I had to wait and return again the next day around the same time to get a photo.

Sometimes I hid in outdoor showers or toilets around light sources during the early morning.  Bugs were everywhere!!!  And so were the birds.......

White-eared Ground-sparrow

Some birds would cooperate while others fled at the slightest movement or sound.

Rufous-collared Sparrow

The early morning skies were many times gray.  On those first excursions, I would see so many birds but never be ready to capture them on film.  One such species was the Squirrel Cuckoo.  It avoided my lens 3 times!!!  The Cuckoos in general can be a secretive bunch.  Once, I had found them in the trees but they flew off into the dark canopy while I tried to focus my lens.  The second time, I was eating breakfast when one flew into a leafless tree.  I didn't have my camera with me.  And the last sighting came to me while swimming in a pool!  And I will admit, those are some of the most frustrating bits about birding. Sometimes it doesn't always work out and I had to be okay with that happening once and awhile.

Gray Silky-flycatcher

But with time and practice, the birds would begin to focus better.

Is it thrilling?  Yes.  It's like finding diamonds in a hidden treasure chest.  The difficult part about Guatemala came from the general public's lack of knowledge about birds in their area.  Generally in Panama or Costa Rica, I found people knowing much more about their local wildlife.  In Guatemala, it was patchy.  Sometimes I would luck out and find a fellow birder.  When I told others that I came to bird, they looked at me funny.  I changed my story to "wildlife photographer" and it was better received.

The shot from this post that made me happiest?  The Blue-throated Motmot.  It took me several days to finally get a picture that made me happy.  We stayed at Earth Lodge for 4 days.  It was a great place and difficult to leave because there were so many great birds.  But on my shower treks every morning at 5 AM, the Blue-throated Motmot would come to visit me.  It became semi-comfortable with my visits and allowed me to get closer.  Each day I tried getting pictures of this bird but they would turn out terrible due to the lack of lighting.  And then on my last day, I took the sports setting off and used the single picture option with flash.  Voila!

Blue-throated Motmot

And so it would go for the first week of photography practice.  As my posts will continue, you'll see an improvement in the shots.  It was definitely a learning curve.  In Arizona, we have to watch out for overexposure from the sun.  In the rain forest, it was all about lighting and quick camera focus.

Spot-crowned  Woodcreeper

The loudest calls came from these wrens below.  A lot of practice went into this one singular shot.  They flew over our cabin every morning with their loud "RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE!"  Imagine shaking an aluminum can full of pennies that owners use to shut poodles up and you've got their call:)

Band-backed Wren

When they flew, they called.  When they landed on a branch, they were silent.  These birds were difficult to capture until one morning I figured out their schedule and waited in our cabin to capture them out on top of the canopy of the trees.  My friend was very patient with me but she could also see that I had gone crazy over the years from the birds.

Meanwhile the views were stunning everyday as we drank micheladas(tomato juice and dark beer). You may say to yourself, "Nasty."  So did I until I took a sip of my friend's drink and then......Oh. My. Gods. I became a fan.

Female Rose-throated Becard

And while we were drinking, the Rose-throated Becard sat upon the bare tree.  It was my first introduction to the Becard family.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to see the male one day but it was still a cool encounter.

Bronzed Cowbird

I was always grateful for the birds I knew.  They were like gifts to me. While my friend did yoga on the hillside, I roamed around the property and searched for birds.

And when it was time to leave, I was saddened to go because I felt like I had become friends with these now familiar birds.  But there were so many more birds to discover. So many more challenges to be had.  Yet I am proud of my accomplishments as I have done all of this alone.  Many people hire guides to help them out, but I used the resources around me to help ID what I was observing out in the field.  As a quick learner into this exciting world, my advice to beginners is to just go out and explore and see what you see.  As time goes on, I am sure I will need to hire people to help me find those elusive birds around the world.   But for now, everything is new and exciting.  More posts to come......